I Think My Illustrator is Tired of Me...

I think my illustrator, Jotham, is tired of me bugging him for covers. He's sent me the next few covers for Delilah already, and he says he's hard at work on the last remaining ones for the first six of that series.

Just wait until I start bugging him for Villainess and Janus Key Chronicles covers, as both of those take a LOT of photomanipulation... not just adding flames and the framework to a silhouette (and cleaning up the edges--he still does a lot of work on the so-called "simple" covers). So, let's all take a moment and thank Jotham for his very hard work (which he does get paid for, it's not like he does this for free!). Half of his covers actually help to inspire the story I write, and he often contributes to title names. For example, the Rock Hardin books are hard for me to write (they're fun, but they take research), but he was so inspired by the idea he went and made nine covers for it. Nine. And he titled every single one... but the titles were so awesome, I have to keep them.

So, we'll turn this into a promo for Jotham and for Rock--which is the next book I'm concentrating on. Here's the cover he made for Operation: Deep Nine. You tell me what it's about... that's what I mean by his covers are inspiring. He does a fantastic job on them.

Seriously, how can a writer not be inspired by that?
It's underwater, got a hot chick, frogmen, a sunken ship...
The book practically writes itself! Except that it doesn't.